An award-winning aboriginal charity founder has been spared jail for “hogtying” and whipping five vulnerable teenage boys at his home in Queensland.
Cody Haywood Schaeffer, 32, who was once the youngest ever Order of Australia Medal recipient, was Brisbane’s Young Citizen of the Year in 2020, and nominated as Young Australian of the Year in 2022, pleaded guilty to six counts of common assault on Wednesday.
The director of Borderline Australia, a non-profit that runs mental health camps for young people, faced Brisbane Magistrates Court where Magistrate Zachary Sarra called his conduct “bizarre” and sentenced him to nine months’ jail, wholly suspended for 18 months.
The court heard Schaeffer met his victims through his charity work and gained their trust before offering them money to allow him to tie them up and whip their feet with a clothes hanger between 2021 and 2023.
The boys, aged between 14 and 17 and bound by their hands and feet, agreed to the acts at first but Schaeffer continued after they told him to stop, and some had duct tape over their mouth and eyes, The Courier Mail reported.
Mr Sarra said the act of binding and gagging the teenagers was “very dangerous” and questioned why Schaeffer was not charged with deprivation of liberty, but said he could only hand down a sentence based on the charges laid.
“People are tied gagged, bound and beaten – it’s like a torture,” he told the court.
“These children were met in the workplace and violated in his private residence. That aggravates it to some extent. It shows a level of calculation and cunning – and all on the pretext that these kids aren’t going to say anything.
“He’s their role model. He’s the person who these children invested their trust, and he took advantage of their trust.”
Police prosecutor Kacie Atkinson said the offending was not sexual and should be viewed as “some form of cruel and unusual punishment”, and argued for Schaeffer to be jailed.
But Schaeffer’s lawyer Danielle Egan said the offending was “immature and jovial”, and said her client’s young age, lack of relevant criminal history and mental health struggles meant he should be given probation or a suspended sentence.
Schaeffer apologised to the court, and said his actions were “absolutely wrong”.
“I’ve let my family and culture down. I’ve been a horrible role model, and immaturity does not excuse it,” he said.
“I’ve got to own it and I’ve got to take responsibility.”
Mr Sarra ultimately accepted Schaeffer has shown genuine remorse, and that while the offending was serious enough to warrant imprisonment the sentence could be wholly suspended due to Schaeffer’s guilty plea and lack of relevant criminal history.
Schaeffer’s Order of Australia Medal may now be cancelled as the Governor-General has the authority to cancel an award if a recipient is convicted of a crime.
Header image: Left, right, Cody Schaeffer (Australian of the Year Awards, Instagram).
